


Pal-entine's Day

by kiwikero



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Best Friends, Drabble, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-17 09:49:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13656501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwikero/pseuds/kiwikero
Summary: When Louis gets dumped shortly before Valentine's Day, his best friend Harry decides to do something about it.Just... not the something Louis was hoping for.





	Pal-entine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little Valentine's Day drabble. Enjoy!
> 
> Thanks to KK for the Britpick. This is unbeta’d so any mistakes are mine.

“I have a proposition for you.”

Louis groaned, reaching for a throw pillow and putting it over his head. “What is it?” he grumbled, voice muffled by the pale blue fabric of the pillow. His sister Lottie had given it to him as a housewarming gift. Louis didn’t even know why he needed throw pillows.

His friends had been full of propositions in the days since Zach had dumped Louis. They ranged from “let’s start working out twice a week” (Liam) to “want me to graffiti his car” (Zayn) to “we should get drunk and diversify our stock portfolios” (Niall). Each of them meant well, and Louis really appreciated the distractions, but sometimes he just wanted to be left alone to wallow.

Harry must have sensed Louis’ irritation, because he hesitated. Louis peered out from around the edge of the pillow, catching sight of his best friend standing next to the couch looking every bit like a kicked puppy. “Come on, Haz. Let’s hear it.”

Harry settled down on the edge of the sofa. “Right, well, just hear me out. Valentine’s Day is next week,” he said, twining his hands together nervously.

“And?”

“Well, I’m single… And now you are too.”

Louis sat up, tossing the pillow aside. “Harry, are you asking me on a date? On Valentine’s Day?”

Harry smiled shyly. “Erm, yes? I thought it might be fun. Better than sitting home alone. If you’ll go, that is.”

“Of course I will!” Louis exclaimed, more enthusiastically than necessary. “I mean, I’m not doing anything else,” he said, trying to play it cool despite the pounding in his chest. In reality, he felt like leaping to his feet and doing jumping jacks. This was Harry, his best friend in the entire world, whom Louis had fancied since they both hit puberty. Harry had been a bit slower on figuring out his sexuality, though, and by the time he did Louis already had a boyfriend. Over the years, there had never been a time where both of them were single at once. Until now. It made Louis wonder if Harry had been waiting just as long as he had.

“Great,” Harry replied, looking pleased at Louis’ response. “Okay, I’ll pick you up at 6.”

“I can’t wait,” Louis replied earnestly. He had resigned himself to a night of sitting alone and hating Zach—pretty common for an evening in these days—but a date with Harry was much, much better.

 

♥♥♥

 

“Do I look all right?” Louis asked, turning his back to the full length mirror to examine his backside. He was wearing his tightest skinny jeans and a nice black and red jumper, an outfit Harry had seen a hundred times. Normally it would be Harry’s opinion Louis would be seeking before a date instead of Liam’s.

“You look fine,” Liam insisted, not even looking away from his game to inspect Louis’ outfit.

Louis put his hands on his hips, shooting Liam a glare that would have worked a lot better if Liam would fucking look at him. “Liam,” he whined. “It’s Harry.”

That finally made Liam put down his controller and give Louis an exasperated look. “Exactly, it’s Harry. You two have been in love since primary school. You look _fine._ ”

“Have not,” Louis muttered. He gave himself one more glance in the mirror. “You’re right, though. Harry isn’t going to care what I look like.”

“If he did, he wouldn’t have asked you out,” Liam replied helpfully, only just managing to duck out of the way of the pillow Louis lobbed at him. Throw pillow, indeed.

 

♥♥♥

 

Louis hadn’t felt this awkward around Harry in years, not since he tearfully came out in secondary school. Even then Harry had been quick to pull him into a hug and promise that nothing would change between them. Louis wished his twelve-year-old self could see him now.

If the drive was quiet, they more than made up for it at dinner. Harry took him to an Italian place they both loved, the one with the good bread, and as soon as they sat down at the table any discomfort between them seemed to vanish.

“You look nice,” Harry said once they ordered, daintily folding his napkin into his lap. “Thank you for having dinner with me.”

“Thanks for asking me,” Louis countered. “And you look nice too.” He did; he was wearing black trousers and a pale pink shirt that looked soft and silky, the top few buttons undone to show off his chest tattoos. It was actually rather tame, for Harry.

Harry shrugged, a shy smile crossing his face. “No fun to be alone on Valentine’s Day, is it?” he asked. “Now neither of us have to be.”

Louis thought he might like to spend every Valentine’s Day with Harry from here on out.

Conversation flowed easily between them after that. Louis took the olives from Harry’s salad, and Harry took Louis’ tomatoes. Harry shared a bite of his lasagne, and laughed when Louis managed to get it all over his face. “Here,” he said, wiping at Louis’ cheek with the corner of his cloth napkin. It felt intimate, cosy, and Louis had to restrain himself from leaning into the touch.

Dessert was a shared piece of tiramisu, the plate decorated with carefully placed swirls of cocoa powder and a heart-shaped piece of chocolate stuck into a pile of whipped cream. Harry gleefully accepted the heart when Louis offered it to him, eyes closed and cheeks hollowing as he allowed the chocolate to melt on his tongue.

“This has been a lot of fun,” Louis said, cutting into the tiramisu with his spoon.

“It has,” Harry agreed. “We should do it every year we’re both single. Make it a tradition.” He grinned the way he always did when he thought of something clever. “We’ll call it Pal-entine’s Day.”

Louis tried to laugh, but all that came out was a choked noise and a half hearted smile. Of course this wasn’t a date! Harry had just been being kind, taking pity on his newly single best friend. It didn’t mean anything, and Louis had been fooling himself the entire evening. He felt like an idiot.

“Louis? Is something wrong?” Harry asked with a frown.

With a sigh, Louis set down his spoon without taking a bite, the layer of mascarpone already starting to melt and make a mess of the cocoa swirls. “It’s stupid,” he muttered.

Harry reached across the table, covering Louis’ hand with his own. “How you feel is never stupid,” he said, giving Louis’ hand a squeeze.

That made Louis feel even worse. There was no use trying to hide from Harry, though, so he figured he might as well get it over with. “I thought this was a real date,” he admitted, unable to meet Harry’s eyes.

“Oh. _Oh,”_ Harry replied, eyes going wide as he withdrew his hand. Louis flinched, bracing himself for Harry to let him down easy. “Is that… Did you want it to be a real date?”

Louis shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, does it? Now I’ve gone and messed everything up.”

Harry laughed, surprising Louis enough that he had to look up and meet his best friend’s eyes. Harry was smiling, shaking his head back and forth. “You don’t get it, do you? I’ve wanted to ask you out for years. I never thought I stood a chance.”

“What?” Louis asked, feeling as though his jaw might hit the table. Surely he couldn’t be hearing Harry correctly.

“You’re my favourite person in the world,” Harry said softly. “I just wanted you to be in my life, in whatever capacity you saw fit.”

“And if I don’t want this to be a friend date?” Louis asked boldly, his heart still hammering wildly beneath his festive jumper.

Harry smiled in that wide, easy way of his. “Then I guess Pal-entine’s Day will have to be for someone else,” Harry replied, not seeming all that disappointed.

Not caring that they were in the middle of a crowded restaurant, Louis went around to Harry’s side of the table and kissed him square on the mouth. It was quick and chaste, but years of unspoken longing managed to pass between their lips in those few seconds.

“Wow,” Harry breathed, still staring at Louis’ lips.

“Yeah,” Louis agreed, pulling him back in for another one.  
  
They forgot all about the tiramisu until it had melted into a puddle of cream and cake, but the waiter was kind enough to bring them a new piece to go along with the bill. They took it back to Louis’ and shared it on the sofa and got mascarpone cheese on the stupid throw pillow, and it was the best Valentine’s Day either of them ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for spending Valentine's Day with me! I couldn't ask for a better date. <3 Please come say hello on tumblr, and check out the rebloggable post [here](http://icanhazzalou.tumblr.com/post/170871039161/title-pal-entines-day-author)!


End file.
